A42469:287
Thomas Gataker B.D. his vindication of the annotations by him published upon these words,…
Thomas Gataker B.D. his vindication of the annotations by him published upon these words, Thus saith the Lord, learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the heathen are dismayed at them, Jer. 10. 2 against the scurrilous aspersions of that grand impostor Mr. William Lillie : as also against the various expositions of two of his advocates, Mr. John Swan, and another by him cited, but not named : together with the annotations themselves : wherein the pretended grounds of judiciary astrology, and the Scripture-proofs produced for it are discussed and refuted.Thomas Gataker B.D. his vindication of the annotations by him published upon these words, Thus saith the Lord, learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signes of heaven, for the heathen are dismayed at them, Jer. 10. 2 against the scurrilous aspersions of that grand imposter Mr. William Lillie : as also against the various expositions of two of his advocates, Mr. John Swan, and another by him cited, but not named : together with the annotations themselvs : wherein the pretended grounds of judiciary astrologie, and the Scripture-proofes produced for it are discussed and refuted.
London: printed by J.L. for Richard Thrayle, 1653
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
For how little force of reason there is in any of your Arguments, to convince any man, that will not renouncing his own reason, swallow down your Principles, admitting them upon your bare word without proof, will (I hope) easily appear to any one, not forestalled with prejudice, by what hath ben here returned thereunto.
But such a one, Master Swan saith,1 he thinks was Pericles that great and famous Athenian. he should rather have said, that crackbrained fellow, one that wanted a little Hellebore to purge his brains, and that loved to play the fool with his own fond fancies and frumps. For such they are among whom he ranks Pericles. for which his censure of him, some it may be will deem that himself may need as much Hellebore as all Anticyra will yield. The Story of him he relateth in effect as I have before delivered it in dealing with Master Lily, the close whereof is, that when upon a Solar Eclipse falling out as he was setting foot on shipboard, the Master of the Ship was therewith much dismayed, he cast his cloak over his face a while, and then taking it away again, asked him [If he had ben ever a whit the worse for it: or, as Master Swan renders it, whether it portended ought, which the Master denying, no more said he, doth this Eclipse; or rather, there is no difference between the darkness caused by the Eclipse, and that which was caused by his cloak, save that there was a greater body between the Sun and his sight in the one, then ⟨p. 148⟩there was in the other.] Now howsoever Master Swan is pleased to tax this in Pericles that noble and intelligent Greek, as surely an over bold presumption; yet doth not Master Swans Sentence so peremptorily pronounced so assure me of the equity and reasonableness of it, but that I dare undertake the justification of him therein, and profess my self to be therein of the same mind with him, especially had he put but some thick cloud, or the body of the Earth, in the room of his cloak. To which purpose, having some neighbours at Supper with me the evening before that expected Black Monday, when upon some speech of the Eclipse, that was to fall out the next day, I perceived some of them somewhat fondly affected therewith I told them that there would be an other Eclipse, within less then 24. hours after it, that would be far greater then it, and would last at least twice as long as it. Which when they wondered much at, I assured them it would so fall out, albeit that their Almanacs had took no notice, nor made mention at all of it. In fine, to put them out of their wonderment, I told them, [We were already then entered into such an Eclipse; yea had such an one every night in the year.